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Hindus celebrate Sacred Thread festival

Sun 10 Aug 2014

An Indian woman ties a "Rakhi" or traditional Indian sacred thread onto the wrist of an Indian Border Security Force soldier during the Raksha Bandhan celebrations at the India-Pakistan joint check post at the Wagah border on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Amritsar. Photograph: Munish Sharma/Reuters

Young Hindu priests take a holy bath together as part of a ritual during the Janai Purnima festival (Sacred Thread Festival) at the premises of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

It's about getting a good dousing. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

A student performs rituals during the Janai Purnima festival at the Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Students at a Hindu school perform rituals. During Janai Purnima, also known as the Sacred Thread festival or Rakshya Bandhan festival, Hindu men, especially the Brahmans and Chettris, perform their annual change of Janai, sacred threads worn across the chest or tied around the wrist. Purified by mantras, the thread is a symbol of protection, according to Hindu belief. The festival also marks the end of the monsoon season. Photograph: Narendra Shrestha/EPA

Brahmins, or upper-caste Hindus, hold "Janeu" (sacred thread), also called "Yagnopavit", as they perform prayers at a temple on the occasion of the Raksha Bandhan festival in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

An Indian girl shows her rakhi with a mosquito depicted alongside it during the Raksha Bandhan Festival celebrations in Calcutta, eastern India. The event here was also an awareness campaign over Japanese Encephalitis, which led to the deaths of more than 150 people in Bengal in recent months. Photograph: Piyal Adhikary/EPA

Indian girls in traditional attire tie Rakhi on the wrists of Indian Border Security Force soldiers on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan festival, at the Indian-Pakistani joint check post at Attari. Photograph: Raminder Pal Singh

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Women shop at a stall selling rakhis at a market in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters